Maybe Roberto Cavalli had been having a hard day. Or else his thoughts had been taken up by the fabulousness of his purple zebra print upholstered yacht currently moored in somewhere chi chi like Cannes or Montenegro. But whatever it was that was on his mind, he surely had lost the power of reason. For why else would he utter ON CAMERA a heartfelt criticism of US Vogue Editor Anna Wintour’s personal style?

In an interview for La Republica, Italy’s second largest national newspaper Cavalli seemed to say that Anna Wintour’s personal style had influenced American fashion to make it “terrible.”

Roberto Cavalli

The 71 year old designer said that young people trying to get into fashion should "try to create a new and different direction." He goes on to say, "Just look at American fashion, which is almost fashion — it's terrible and you almost can't even look at it. But it has been driven by a great journalist, Anna Wintour, who wants all women to be like her and dress the way she does. It's difficult, so I can only say, try to be different, and try to create artistic fashion styles.” Ouch!

Whether or not Ms Wintour has been trying to make herself the model of American style – or whether her exuberant colour choices and bold print selections could be said to be lacking originality is debatable. But either way, Roberto Cavalli can expect to feel the fall out of the legendary ‘Nuclear Wintour’ wrath – sounds like an invite to RC on-sea might be in order!

Click through the gallery and make up your own mind about Anna Wintour’s personal style.